Dark Matter Missing Moments
by innocent-vessel
Summary: A series of vignettes from the Dark Matter timeline. Mostly Darcy/Bruce but some Clint/ Natasha as well.
1. Rule 6

Rule 6 - Check the room for sneaky assassins before any clothing is removed.

"Hi," a tentative voice that Darcy recognised immediately as Bruce's came from the doorway to the small gym below the residential floors of Stark Tower.

Darcy dropped her arms and stepped back from the punching back, a huge smile spreading across her face. "Hey you," she said, wiping at her forehead with a taped palm.

"You busy?" he asked, "Because I can always come back later if…"

"Will you just get over here Bruce," said Darcy impatiently, making grabby hands at him with an impatient smirk.

"Yes ma'am," he said, in his best Captain imitation, with a lazy little salute he strolled over, hands in his pockets. He stopped right in front of her, pushing into her personal bubble ever so slightly. "Well?" he raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm here."

Darcy was still having a hard time believing it, actually. It had only been two weeks since they finally admitted to each other that angst was overrated and making out in the lab was much more fun. (Bruce had fought it a lot harder than Darcy, but she wasn't going to bring that up…often) And Bruce, already fairly present in her life, had become a fixture. Now that he felt it was allowed, he was constantly in her space, finding reasons to touch her, a hand on the small of her back, fingers brushing back her hair, hip brushing against hers as they passed in the lab. Getting really unsubtle eyefuls of her rack. Like right now, for example.

She grinned widely at him. "See something you like doc?"

"Yes," he said, that slow burning smile that made tension ping in her belly spread across his face. It drove all the wit right out of her.

"Uhh…I am trying to think of a sexy response but I can't because I think I might die if you don't kiss me right now." She stepped up against him, arms around his waist, chin tilted up to look at him with sparkling eyes.

"Can't have that," he murmured, half against her lips as he lowered his head to meet her, pressing his lips against her slow and sweet until she opened under him, sucking his lower lip between her teeth.

He made a little noise, halfway between a groan and a grunt, low in his throat, that Darcy was quickly coming to learn meant something between _yes_ and _more_. His hands worked their way under her t-shirt, fingers pressing into her sweat damp skin, tracing lines across her scarred back in a way that didn't bother her at all, but made her feel strong and beautiful.

She gasped out loud, breaking away from his mouth, tugging impatiently at his shirt until he helped her pull it over his head with a low chuckle.

"Aren't you supposed to be," he paused to nip at the spot right below her ear that made her go a bit boneless, "training?" he finished, sucking gently at her skin.

"Hmmm? Oh," Darcy was understandably distracted, one hand tucked under the waistband of Bruce's pants, the other flat against the lean muscles of his back. "Tasha couldn't make it." She slid a leg between his knees, pressing her thigh against the obvious evidence of his arousal. "But I suppose I could go back to the punching bag, if you think I should?" She blinked up at him with innocent eyes, her hands on his ass pressing him against her in a wicked way.

He groaned, "Jesus Christ Darcy."

She just raised an eyebrow at him before quickly pulling her t-shirt off.

"You know," a clear, feminine voice rang out from just behind the free weight bench, "I thought I had given you a gimme when I mentioned we should put some more work into training your observation skills this morning." Tasha melted out of the shadows with a smirk on her face.

"Sweet merciful crap Natasha!" Darcy exclaimed.

Bruce frantically grabbed for his shirt, holding it very unsubtly in front of his crotch. He gave Darcy a look that could have been "Help me!" or "How could you do this to me?"

"You couldn't have said something sooner? When it was _really clear_ we didn't know you were here?"

Natasha shrugged, "I was giving you a chance to recover. Plus, I thought you might know I was there and just be into an audience. I really wasn't hiding very well."

"We did _not_ want an audience Tasha!" she screeched.

"Well," Bruce cleared his throat, "Yeah, but to be fair to Natasha, the gym is a pretty public place, so we should really just, uhh…." He began inching for the door.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Yes yes, off with you, enjoy your sex. But know that I'm going to kick your ass in the gym tomorrow over this Lewis."

"Oh my god this is so embarrassing," Darcy groaned as she hustled Bruce to the door.

"Sorry!" he called to Natasha, red faced but looking awfully pleased with himself as Darcy manhandled him out of the gym.

"Rule 6" said Bruce, pushing her up against the wall as soon as they were out of the room,

"Check the room for sneaky assassins first?" said Darcy a bit breathlessly.

"I can still see you," came Natasha's bored voice from inside the gym.

Darcy burst into laughter as she dragged Bruce down the hall. "Jarvis!" she hollered, "will you please make sure there are no more sneaky assassins hiding in my room?"

"Or Tony," added Bruce with a grin, "make sure there are no Tonys"

"The room," said Jarvis in a supercilious tone as they made it to her room and closed the door behind them, "Is secured."

Bruce pushed her against the wall, arms on either side of her, blocking her in, an intense grin on his face.

"Perfect."


	2. Rule 10

Rule 10 - If we're going to fight about this, we are going to have to do this out at containment because you are seriously getting on my last nerve here.

"Stay with me," said Darcy breathlessly, an arm reaching out to stop Bruce as he sat up in her bed, fishing around for his pants. "You can stay. I think that everyone knows that we're not playing parcheesie in here, my reputation is already ruined." She tried to smile. She hated the vulnerability she could hear in her voice. She was happy to give him space, because she knew he needed to take his time to open up, after so many years of solitude. But it had been almost a month, and she was starting to hate waking up without him every day.

He sighed heavily, "I…I want to. But I can't, Darce, I just can't."

"You know," she said, pulling her knees up against her, "That's not really an explanation."

He swung his legs around to the floor, propping his on his hands.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I know this isn't fair to you. You should have someone who can fall asleep with you and wake up with you in the morning and…"

"Stop it," Darcy cut in tightly, "you can't just pull a giant guilt trip every time we run into a problem Bruce. It's not fair, it makes me the bad guy for pushing at you, and I don't really think I'm the bad guy here."

"Well what do you want me to say then?" Bruce asked, looking back at her over his shoulder, "because the truth is that I'm terrified."

"Of what?" she asked sharply, "What is so dangerous about _sleeping_."

"I can't control the other guy when I'm sleeping." He said tightly, "are you saying that _cuddling_ is worth that kind of risk?"

"Really, Bruce? You _really_ think you're going to have a nightmare and break out in a bad case of the Hulk? Has that _ever_ happened?"

"No, but that doesn't mean it won't."

"Well fine, by that logic, we don't know if I have a very late developing mutant gene and could accidentally suck the life out of you in the middle of the night or something, but you don't see _me_ stopping us from having a real relationship over it."

"No," said Bruce in a tense and angry voice, standing up and pulling on his sweatpants, "you don't get to do that, you don't get to minimize what I have to live with _every day_. I'm not being silly or _stupid_ Darcy, I have been dealing with the other guy for a hell of a lot longer and a hell of a lot closer up than you have, you don't get to tell me to just _stop worrying about it._"

"So the other guy is just your trump card then? The minute anything brushes up against the big green elephant in the room, all of my opinions stop counting and I should just shut up?"

"_Yes_" said Bruce fiercely.

"Well I'm not _going_ to." She spat back, grabbing a t shirt and shorts off the floor, following close behind him as he headed for the door. "This isn't going to work if I can't talk about the other guy at all."

"Talking? Is that what we're doing here?"

"Oh, and you thought somehow we could magically have a real relationship when you won't spend the night and we never fight about anything?"

"Rule 2," Bruce ground out.

"Bullshit!" Darcy hollered at him, even as she pushed out of her room and started running down the hall, because rules were rules, "You're avoiding a fight and we'll do it from opposite sides of the tower if we have to."

"Fine," shouted Bruce, and Darcy stumbled to a stop. Bruce ran his fingers through his hair. "Rule 10, If we are going to continue _fighting_ about this, we are going to have to do it out at containment Darcy," his voice was tight with controlled anger, "Because you are really getting on my last nerve here."

"Ditto," said Darcy sharply, "Let's go, because I'm not walking away from this."

"Fine."

"Fine!"

Darcy stood outside of the adamantine reinforced containment cell, arms crossed and eyes blazing as Bruce paced around the interior.

"I just don't see how you can feel totally Ok about throwing me up against a barn wall, but sleeping is this insanely dangerous threat to your control."

"That was _different_," he shouted, exasperated, "the other guy was worn out, and I am never more in control of myself than when I am focused on you." He was breathing hard, fists clenched tight at his sides, _focusing_ on her. Darcy raised an eyebrow. "Usually." He amended awkwardly, a little bit of the wind coming out of his sails.

"So if the other guy was worn out, you'd be okay with staying over?" she tried to put this forward in a bit more of a rational tone, because they were both a little worked up at this point.

Bruce stopped his pacing, "yeah," he said slowly, "yeah that might be ok."

"And will you look into what the risk of sleeping with me really is? Because there was a time when you thought it wasn't even safe for me to be friends with you, and you promised to work on that." She sniffed a little, because they both knew perfectly well that behind this fight was the desperate sadness that both of them wanted everything to be simple and uncomplicated, but they just weren't those people.

He let out a breath, "I remember," he said, "and I can look into it. But," he put a hand up against the glass, "you can't ask me to put your safety second to anything Darcy, not even if it's what you want. I can't do that."

She sighed, "I know," she put her hand against his across the glass, "and I love that you care about me that much."

"Of _course_ I do," he said. They both pressed their foreheads against the glass for a moment.

"Hey Bruce," Darcy said after a moment, "I think we just had our first fight."

"I guess we did," he said, pulling away from the wall with a smile, "how do you think it went?"

"I give us high marks thus far," she said "we came to a fair compromise, and you didn't Hulk out and need to be tranked." The corner of her mouth quirked up in a half smile.

"Thus far?" Bruce looked concerned, "I was really hoping it was over. I didn't much care for fighting with you."

"Oh it 'aint over yet," said Darcy, her lips kicking up into a full and wicked grin, walking up to the control panel and hitting the opening sequence "the best part of a fight is the make up sex."

They were walking back through the woods behind SHILED to take Bruce's car back to the tower, arms around each other, looking rumpled but relaxed. That is until an irate Clint stopped them just outside the back entrance.

"Uh, hi Clint?" Bruce tried cautiously. Clint pointed a finger at Bruce, silencing him with a kind of terrifying glare.

"What's up buddy?" Darcy was using her 'you may be a crazy person' voice.

Clint held out a small, plastic encased disk, the sort that Shield security feeds were recorded on. Security feeds. Like the ones that were hard wired into containment.

"You had best be thanking the lucky star you live under that I was a jackass and Hill put me on surveillance tonight, kid." Said Clint fiercely. "And before you ask, I didn't watch any more than it took to figure out what was going on and to find out when it was over so I could steal the tape."

"Oh my god, Clint _thank you_ we didn't even think…I'm so sorry!"

He held a hand up, looking pained, "Just…never _ever_ bring this up again, okay?" Darcy nodded mutely, biting her lip half in embarrassment, half because she wanted to laugh at the horror written all over Clint's face. I mean, here was a man who could stand up to alien invasions and super villains without blinking, but some guy getting busy with his Darcy? World ending. Lord love him.

"And you," he rounded on Bruce. Bruce looked at Darcy helplessly. "You are _really _lucky that I am practiced at repressing things." He started to walk away then turned back "And that I like you most of the time."

"Clint, I…"

"Nope, don't wanna talk about it," Clint interrupted Bruce's awkward attempt at an apology, "Gonna go bleach my eyeballs." He stalked off.

"So…" said Darcy, "Rule 11, yes?"

"Yes."


	3. Jealousy

This takes place near the end of Chapter Two of Dark matter, a few hours before Darcy overhears Clint and Natasha in her hospital room.

"What are you doing Clint," Natasha drops in on him out of nowhere. Literally drops in, as he's walking down a Hallway at SHIELD late at night, or early in the morning, depending how you look at it. Neither of them keeps particularly usual hours, so it's not odd for both of them to be working at this time.

It is also not odd, at least lately, for Natasha to be scowling at him for some reason. He sighed.

"Heading down to the range to test out some new tech, how 'bout you?" he tried flippantly. He knows that's not what she meant.

"You know that's not what I mean."

Freaking mind reader.

"Yeah, but I never know what you do mean anymore Nat," he said, arms crossed, "so why don't you just tell me."

"What are you doing with the job, Clint."

"Her name is Darcy, Tasha."

"Since when do you let the job become a person."

"I don't know Tash, since they are friends of Jane's who got pulled into this shit because we messed with her life? Since they are civilians who stand up to three days of torture and then kick a chair at the guy who did it?"

"Are you fucking her?" asked Tasha bluntly.

"What? No! For Christ sake Natasha, the girl is lying in the med ward hopped up on morphine." She was trying to make him mad. He knew it, but it didn't make her any less fucking efficient at it.

"But you want to. You're getting involved with a mark Clint. That's the one rule you don't break."

"Broke it with you, didn't I?" because just _once_ he wanted to get to Natasha the same way she got to him.

"And look how well that worked out," said Natasha with an eye roll. And Clint had fucking _had it_. She had been growing colder, pulling away from him, building up the walls he had spent _years_ breaking down. Ever since Loki. Ever since she had been compromised.

He knew, right at that moment, sitting on the helicarrier, still punch drunk from being ripped out of his own head and having his ass kicked by Tasha, when he asked why she was joining this war.

_I've been compromised. I have red in my ledger, and I'd like to wipe it out._

It had hit him like a knife in the gut. Loki had got to her. He had got to her through _him_. And that made him a weakness, a liability. Loki had made him into a spot of red in her ledger, her bleeding heart. And she was trying to wipe him out. And _damn_ her if she though he was just going to let her do it.

He slammed her up against the wall. It was a mark of how messed up they were right now that she let him. "I thought it worked out pretty well Tasha," he bit out the words in a low, dangerous tone. "I thought we were partners. The only goddam person I ever…" He cut himself off with an angry rasp, pushing himself away from her and turning away.

"You ever what?" And there was a note in Tasha's voice he didn't know if he had ever heard before. Challenging, but somehow vulnerable. She always did this. Drove him right to the edge, and pulled him back. Maddening, impossible, _incredible_ woman.

"I can't do this right now with you Tasha," said Clint, not turning back to her. He didn't know whether he wanted to kick the crap out of her or kiss her. And he knew, better than anyone, that while Natasha was strong in many ways, most ways even, her heart could be a fragile thing. And he was one of the only people, maybe the only person, that had a hold on it. So he was going to sit on this until he could figure out what was to be done. Get some distance, a better view.

"She's a mistake Barton." Natasha called out behind him as he walked away. But Clint didn't look back. And part of him wanted to smile a little, because he didn't think Natasha was aware of how thoroughly she sounded like a jealous teenager in that moment. Albeit a deadly and incredibly threatening jealous teenager. Come to think about it, maybe he should drop in on Darcy, make sure Nat wasn't in a vengeful mood…


	4. What Are You Doing This New Year's Eve

New Year's had always been something of a curse for Darcy. When she was a kid, her Dad (totally against Mom's orders) had let her light off a bottle rocket. She had quickly rethought how cool it would be once the fuse was burning and it seemed way too close to her, so she had grabbed the thing out of the ground and tossed it as far as she could. Unfortunately, "as far as she could," even with her 11 year old arms, had been into the hay stack under the eaves of the barn. The fire department was called out, Darcy was grounded for a solid month, and her Dad had never disobeyed a Mom directive again.

When she was 16, her very first I-will-love-you-forever-lets-hold-hands boyfriend had broken up with her just before midnight because he decided he would prefer to kiss Mandy George who was a little skinnier and a lot blonder than her.

When she was 20, she had broken up with James Killam across the bars of a holding cell. It turned out that she was not exactly into the bad boy type.

And in between, there had been a lot of high hopes and disappointing nights. Not the least of which was last year, when marauding robotic knights had ruined her almost-first-kiss with Bruce.

This year, things were going to be different. While the past year hadn't exactly started off on the best note, what with a kidnapping and some serious emotional trauma and all, the past eight months had been good. Great even. And a huge part of that was the way things were going with Bruce.

It said something to her, something important, that it wasn't as though she was deliriously happy all the time. It wasn't a blind and impossible passion, the sort that flamed out and left ash in its wake. It wasn't that honeymoon period where everything that was real still waited somewhere under the surface. She and Bruce fought sometimes, but not often, and only about the important stuff. And he didn't fix everything for her, they were both complicated people. But they did make each other better and stronger. And sometimes, she would wake up in the morning and see him sleeping next to her, a relatively new development, and she felt like her heart would explode out of her chest for the pure, simple, _normal_ beauty of it.

So this year, no fancy dresses, no big party, just close friends at home in the tower, starting a new year with this strange and wonderful new family she had found. How Pepper had talked Tony into it, she had no idea.

So far, she had a lot going for her. Her simple wrap dress was far more comfortable than her dress last year had been, bare feet against the carpet promising happier feet by the end of the night. The champagne was expensive and plentiful, the company was excellent.

The one, rather important, missing element was her wonderful, caring, giant piece of shit boyfriend Bruce.

At first, it was a little bit funny. Bruce could be…absentminded at the best of times, and she knew he was working on something important in the lab. She let Tony's teasing roll off of her with a tolerant grin. Besides, she was currently _far_ more interested in watching Steve and June totally try to pretend they were capable of keeping their hands off of each other. New Year's Eve was their official one year anniversary, and it was unbearably sweet of them to spend it with the rest of the crowd when they so clearly couldn't wait to be alone.

As the clock ticked past 11, Darcy's patience, not exactly legendary at the best of times, started to wane.

"Jarvis," she said quietly in the kitchen, escaping the group for a moment, "could you remind Bruce that there's a bit of an event going on tonight, and I'd really like him to be here?"

"I must apologise Ms. Lewis, but Dr. Banner's current experiment is running and it is incredibly sensitive to any auditory interference. Were I to interrupt, it would set him back a full day. I am, of course, willing to do so if you wish?"

She sighed "No, thank you Jarvis. Just…remind him as soon as you can."

As the half hour ticked by, Jane started giving her concerned glances as she sat on the edge of a conversation between Tony and Thor, not really paying attention or participating.

At 11:45, an incredibly nervous Steve got down on one knee in front of the closest thing he had to family and told June he couldn't imagine starting the next year or any other for that matter without tying himself to her. When he pulled out his mother's wedding ring to present to his new fiancé and as all the couples in the room moved closer to each other as midnight neared, Darcy had to leave.

She ran lightly up the stairs to Tony and Pepper's suite above them. Jarvis let her in without question.

She heard the crowd below yell "Happy New Year," she saw the fireworks burst above the New York skyline, and she rang in the New Year alone.

It was only five minutes later that Clint came bounding up the stairs. "Darcy?" he called out in a worried tone, before spotting her curled up on a chair near the balcony. "You okay?" he came over and flopped loosely onto the couch beside her.

"Not really," she said, "But it's not a big deal. I just had this stupid image in my head that I would finally get this one totally perfect New Year's moment this year, you know?"

"It's not stupid Darce," said Clint firmly. "You're supposed to spend New Year's with the people you love."

"And I did," she said, with a sad sort of half smile, "most of them."

"Bruce is an idiot and you are way too good for him," said Clint. He could always be counted on to play the supportive friend role when it came to the ups and down of building a relationship with Bruce. Far more reliably than Jane, really. She would probably spout something about the importance of Science.

"Oh hush," she said, smiling more broadly in spite of herself, "I know that what he does is important, and the fact that he cares so much about his work is part of what makes him Bruce."

"Yeah, he and Tony both, totally whipped by Science." Clint agreed.

"Pepper and I should start a club." Darcy quipped.

"I thought you already had one?" Clint grinned broadly at her, "or are your Wednesday girls nights something a bit racier than wine and gossip?"

"Like Tasha doesn't tell you everything," she responded with a snort.

"Not a word. Although she did promise me that she would downplay how good I am in the sack. She wouldn't want you girls to get jealous." Clint waggled his eyebrows and Darcy laughed out loud.

"Okay," she said, "mission accomplished Hawkeye, I'm feeling better."

"Good," he said, reaching over and giving her elbow a compassionate squeeze. "Now tell me what's going on with Bruce's no show act?"

She sighed, "Nothing unusual. He's running an experiment, he probably lost track of time. It doesn't mean he doesn't love me or want to spend New Year's with me. He's just…" she paused, trying to sort out for herself as well as Clint what Bruce was. "Look, Steve and June have been together for a year and now they're getting _married_. Bruce and I have been together for almost that long and were flirting around it for a long time before that."

Clint snorted in amusement. "Flirting? You guys were a god damn three act play full of eye fucking and melodrama."

"Yes, fine Clint. But my point is that I only recently _talked him into_ staying overnight. I don't question that Bruce is giving everything he has to give, but I guess…sometimes his limits and the things that _normal _people in a relationship do that he just doesn't understand… sometimes it gets to me a bit. Like tonight for example. There's no one like Bruce, and in so many ways he is so far beyond what I ever could have hoped for but…I mean, a normal guy wouldn't ditch his girlfriend on New Year's for Science."

Her volume rose a bit as she vented her frustration at Clint. Which was somewhat unfortunate, as it meant that Bruce, who had just appeared at the top of the staircase, probably heard the whole thing. Bruce, master of feeling guilty about his issues even when she wasn't saying a word.

"Darcy…" he sounded a bit strangled, his face white, eyes wide.

Clint blew out a breath. "Well," he got to his feet, "I'll just…uh…" he gestured vaguely towards the stairs and then beat a hasty retreat after bending over to give Darcy a quick kiss on the forehead and raising a challenging eyebrow at Bruce as he passed.

There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Bruce ran a hand through his hair and, looking everywhere but at her, said "I don't suppose I'm sorry is really going to cut it this time?" the words were almost flippant, but his tone rang with the gallows humor.

"It's a start," Darcy was pretty pleased with how even her voice was. She tried to remember that yelling probably wouldn't help.

"There was…I was running an experiment and…the clock was on the other side of the…I just. I'm sorry. There's, there's no excuse really." He was just standing there, looking so lost. Although, he did that a lot, and it didn't make her anger melt away as easily as it used to.

"Just…just come over here for a minute. I would like to pretend that the absentminded asshole whose priorities are so skewed that he remembers the entire periodic table but not a really important night with his girlfriend is someone else and I really need some comfort, okay?" Her voice was a little wobbly on that one.

Always better at following instructions than knowing what to do with her, Bruce hurried over and gathered her into his arms as he squeezed into the chair underneath her. She curled up there for a long while, listening to him whisper into her hair over and over. "I'm sorry, I love you, I'm sorry."

Finally, as she felt her calm restoring itself, she said softly "You're not an asshole, I'm sorry I said that. I just…Steve proposed to June tonight, and you stood me up. And…and I just really wanted to start the year with you."

"Darcy," he seemed at a loss for words. It wasn't all that uncommon for him. "I'm not…I didn't…" he blew out a breath, "I need to say something to you." He said finally, "But I'm going to make a mess of it, so can you just…can you wait until I'm done?"

Darcy nodded, feeling a bit worried. He looked awfully scared, which was never a good sign. Bruce was usually pretty level unless he was going to go off the edge.

"You were right, what you said to Clint. I do have limits. And you really do deserve someone _normal_, someone who can give you what you deserve."

"Bruce," she interrupted giving his arm a squeeze. Regardless of promising not to interrupt, it was her own personal and hopefully lifelong mission to get him to understand that she wanted _him_, not some abstract notion of what he thought she deserved.

"I know," he said, "I know that this is more my thing than it is yours. I know you were venting to Clint. But I'm not normal, I'm never going to be normal. _We're_ never going to be normal. I'm not Steve, it isn't uncomplicated for me to find a girl I want to spend the rest of my life with. He gets to move in with her without worrying that she might become collateral damage, he gets to plan for kids, he gets to grow old with June and I don't even know if I'm going to age normally or…" his voice broke and he cut himself off. Darcy waited, feeling like she was having an out of body experience. As a rule, Bruce didn't exactly volunteer this sort of emotion.

He sighed, tucking a hand around her hip, his fingers tracing soothing patterns on her skin. "I knew. I knew when I started the experiment this afternoon that I wouldn't be done in time for midnight." He must have felt her tense, because he paused before going on nervously. "I also knew that Steve was going to propose. He showed me the ring." He swallowed heavily. "I know…I know that things between us are moving slowly. And I wish… I want so badly to be able to just follow my heart when it come to you, without being careful. And every time I disappoint you by not being as uncomplicated as other men, every time you're sad and it's _my fault_. God, it eats at me. I just, I couldn't stand to watch Steve and June be so uncomplicatedly happy without being able to give that to you."

After a long pause, Darcy figured he was finished, so she twisted in his lap, reached a hand up to his cheek, and pulled him down so she could kiss him, slow and sweet.

"Oh Bruce," she said with a smile, "You are such an idiot."

"I know," said Bruce easily, clearly pleasantly surprised by her reaction, "But, uh, why exactly this time?"

"You really…you want to spend the rest of your life with me?"

"Well, yeah." Said Bruce with a bare simplicity and the smallest hint of "what, are you an idiot" that brought tears to her eyes.

"Do you really think I care that our happily ever after might look different than Steve's? Or take a little longer? I won't lie to you, sometimes I wish it was simpler, but if it was simpler, it wouldn't be _us. _It's just, when you miss things like this…I thought I just wasn't a priority to you tonight. That's what made me sad, that I might not be as important to you as you are to me."

"I am such an idiot," said Bruce, with feeling.

"Yeah," said Darcy fondly, shifting so she could straddle his lap and kiss him properly. He clung to her in a way that was both familiar and always surprising to her. In her mind, she was still just this kid who got caught up in a world that was way bigger than her. But Bruce held onto her like something solid and real, something that belonged here. And she did. She belonged here with this man, who was amazing and necessary to her, even when he was being an idiot. A man who wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Her logical train of thought was short circuited as he tugged at her hips, pulling her closer, imprinting her skin with his fingerprints. So it wasn't until they pulled their mouths apart, short of breath and flushed with passion, that she thought to say it. "You know that I want to start all of my years with you don't you?"

He leaned in to press a quick kiss against the side of her mouth with a lopsided grin, "Yeah" he said, "I know. I just find it hard to believe a lot of the time." He paused, "I really screwed this up didn't I?" he said, "This was supposed to be the first year we would get to start together, and I missed it."

Darcy just nodded, smoothing back the hair at his temples. "It's okay," she said softly, "We'll have a lot more chances to get it right."

He looked past her, the wheels in his head clearly turning, "Damned if I am going to wait a whole year for that." He exclaimed suddenly, pulling himself of the chair and dropping her against the cushion. "Tony," he hollered down the stairs. "Tony get up here!" Darcy looked at him, mouth open in an O of surprise. She had never heard Bruce raise his voice in public before. Well, this wasn't exactly public she supposed, but still.

"What's going on, is everyone ok?" Tony burst through the floor at the top of the stairs, Clint and Natasha hot on his heels.

"We're fine," said Darcy her tone incredulously, "Bruce has just gone crazy, but we're fine."

"Not crazy," he turned back to her with a grin, "Tony what time is it?"

"12:14" Tony answers immediately, looking at Bruce warily.

"And how fast can the helicopter on your roof get to Chicago?"

Now Tony grins manically, clearly getting something that Darcy has missed "the chopper won't do it, but the new Quinjet prototype I just _happen_ to have can do it in 29 minutes. Jarvis, start it up would you?"

"At once sir," said Jarvis, and a high pitch wine exploded somewhere above their heads.

"And why exactly are we going to Chicago?" Darcy asked carefully.

"Because I'm going to start this year right, for once." Said Bruce, taking her hand and tugging her to her feet.

Realisation dawned on Darcy that they had about 45 minutes until New Years in Chicago and she threw her arms around Bruce.

"No time for that you crazy kids," said Clint, dragging them apart and pushing them to the elevator, "Wheels up in 5!"

Natasha walked over with a chilled bottle of champagne, clearly just pulled from the fridge. She handed it to Bruce with a terse nod. Tasha could be such a sap about romance sometimes. But just this once, Darcy was going to pass on teasing her about it.

They made it with two minutes to spare, and Darcy got her perfect New Year's moment sitting near the open back hatch of the jet amidst the fireworks as Tony hovered over downtown Chicago.

"Happy New Year's Bruce," she murmured happily, tucked against his side, still flushed from the way he had kissed her as the crowds below them burst into cheers.

"The very best one I've ever had," he said, totally oblivious to the spectacle outside. "Almost makes up for how badly I wanted to kiss you last year."

Darcy chuckled, "Yeah, this is definitely a one up on that whole robo-knight you almost dying thing." She spread her hand flat across his ribs, the memory of how he, or rather the Hulk, had jumped in front of a missile for her making her feel protective, like so long as she could hold onto him, nothing bad could happen.

And really, you could forgive a guy for missing a party when he was willing to die for you, couldn't you? She tilted her head up and placed a kiss against his jaw. "You are totally off the hook for missing New Years, just so you know." She said.

"Oh, am I?" said Bruce with a bit of wicked grin, "well that's too bad, I had this whole plan involving you, me, a bottle of wine, and that little noise at the back of your throat that you make right before you…"

"Okay, you are totally not off the hook yet." Darcy interrupted him hastily, "Also, you realise that Tony is totally listening to us, right?"

A crackle of static burst through the hold of the jet "right before you what, Lewis?" came Tony's voice over the com."

"Point taken," said Bruce wryly, "but my plans haven't changed."

"Good," said Darcy, pushing him back against a metal supply bin and kissing him breathless.

As Bruce's hands worked their way up her thighs under her dress and she pressed her hips into his, drawing out a low gasp, they heard Tony again. "Guys? Right after what? Guys?" But he was probably joking and they were much too busy to respond.


End file.
